


Pickles

by apple9131999



Series: The States of America [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Historical Hetalia, Illness, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 17:18:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6619510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apple9131999/pseuds/apple9131999
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you think he knows which ones of us will survive?” Levi asked in the silence during dinner as he pushed the remnants of his food around his plate. He looked up at her. “Because I do.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pickles

**Author's Note:**

> River/Connecticut Colony- Samantha  
> Saybrook Colony- Selah  
> New Haven Colony- Levi
> 
> There is what equates to character death in this, but it is non-graphic.
> 
> Historical References are at the end :)

_Windsor, Connecticut- March 3, 1637_

* * *

“Come in, there are some people who are eager to meet you,” England said as he got out of the coach, turning around to extend a hand for Samantha. She accepted, letting him help her out of the coach. She fiddling with the ribbon of her hat as she stared up at the impressive house in front of her. England called for her again and she hurried after him as he opened the big, solid oak door.

The first thing she noticed was that there was fireplace crackling in front of her, two coats hung up in front of it- the snow slowly melting off of them. Behind the fireplace, there sounded like there was someone clattering.

England had unwound his scarf and took off his coat before he was encouraging her to do the same. “Levi?” he called.

The clattering stopped and a boy appeared from behind the fireplace- or rather the space next to the fireplace that lead into another room. He had his long chocolate hair tied behind his head with a red ribbon, the ends of which were curling around the straight strands.

Samantha fiddled with the red ribbon under her chin as she plucked at the knot.

The boy- Levi- was staring at her with dark gray eyes like the ocean in winter before sunrise. He stepped closer and extended a hand, taking her hand, and kissing the back of it, not once looking away from her eyes. “Levi Kirkland, New Haven Colony. Nice to make your acquaintance.”

Samantha curtsied belatedly. “Samantha Kirkland, River Colony. The pleasure is mine.”

England was smiling at the two of them, before he affixed his green eyes on Levi. “Where is Selah?”

“Upstairs, she is taking a nap.”

England nodded once to Levi and then smiled down at Samantha. “Make yourself at home, sweetheart. I’m going to see Selah.”

Samantha fidgeted in the doorway as England walked up the stairs. Levi stared at her for a long time before turning and walking back to the room from whence he emerged. “Would you like some tea?”

Samantha sighed as she followed him. “Tea would be lovely thank you.”

Levi nodded as he busied himself with the tea kettle. “Now, I’ll have you know that Selah counts it as necessary that she know your favorite color and something you love to eat and something you hate doing.”

“Oh?”

Levi turned around and smiled a small secret smile. “For example, my name is Levi, my favorite color is dark blue, I love salted salmon, and I hate cooking.”

“I’m Samantha, I love purple. I like candied citrus, and I hate sewing.”

Levi nodded gravely. “I think we will get along just fine, Ms. Samantha.”

* * *

_Windsor, Connecticut- July 6, 1637_

* * *

Selah was a little wisp of a dark-skinned girl that got sick rather easily. But her bright blue eyes always followed Samantha with a look bordering on awe. She loved the color pink even though Levi continuously pointed out that it wouldn’t look nice with her red hair. She loved rosewater cookies more than life and her day would brighten if she caught either Samantha or Levi sneaking around in the kitchen, trying to cook them discreetly. She hated yelling and people fighting.

Today, all three were pickling cucumbers in the fading heat of a long summer day, the sun just peeking over the tops of the trees around them. The dirt road in front of their house was barren except for the little boy and his dog that lived down the street as the two ran past.

Selah was cackling as she packed the cucumbers into the jar- she had, in years previous, been banned from manning the pickling brine. “Levi has a silly rule about pickles, don’t you, Levi?”

Levi- who was manning the pickling brine because he could be trusted not to burn himself with it- scowled jokingly at Selah. “Is it my fault that I have standards?”

“What?” Samantha asked as she washed the dirt off of their soon to be pickles.

Selah looked up at her, her eyes bright and mocking as she said in a pale imitation of Levi’s voice, _“‘A pickle is not a pickle unless it can bounce’.”_

Levi whined over the two of them as they laughed until their cheeks ached and were burning red.

* * *

_April 5, 1638_

* * *

She woke up with the memory of blood spilling in front of her. She breathed hard in the darkness of the near-dawn, her chest heaving up and down with an effort to calm herself.

She felt like she was breathing blood.

Selah, who had never once slept deeply and uninterrupted in the year that Samantha has known her, stirred as Samantha sat up and rolled out of bed. “‘Am?” she asked, blindly, reaching one hand out to her, grasping for nothing in the dark.

Samantha took Selah’s hand. “I’m okay, I’m going start breakfast.”

“‘S not dawn,” Selah said softly, her face smushed into her pillow. “‘S not dawn. Levi…’S not dawn.”

“I know,” Samantha said softly as she smoothed Selah’s hair away from her forehead. “Just sleep, Selah. Dawn is coming.”

Selah yawned widely, her back teeth showing and Samantha bit her lip to keep from smiling.

 

* * *

_September 14, 1640_

* * *

“Selah, you’ve barely eaten,” Samantha said as the latter stood to return her portion to the dishes on the counter. Levi’s lips were pursed as he stared down at the tabletop. Selah smiled at Sam shyly.

“Not so hungry today, I think I might be a little sick again,” she said, casting an apologetic look to Levi. Levi didn’t look up. “I’m going to lay down.”

Once she was gone, Levi spoke. “She hasn’t been eating more than two meals since you went to visit Owen and Victoria. I thought maybe she just missed you, but…”

Samantha stared at Levi down the table. “I’ve been gone for the _summer_. She hasn’t eaten?”

“She’s been taking more naps than I have ever seen someone of her age do.”

“She can’t just be sick, can she?”

Levi shrugged, fiddling with a groove in the table. “We can ask England when we next see him. He’ll know.”

England’s reply was that Selah’s economy was very poor, making her easily susceptible to diseases if her home life was drastically changed. Levi and Samantha had privately agreed not to do any traveling until Selah got better.

Selah was not getting better- the winter had been horrible and terrifying. Selah was ice-cold to the touch and she’d taken to rubbing at her skin- particularly her calves and the backs of her hands- in order to warm them up. She wore double socks to bed, even in the heat of the summer, overheating the small bed she and Samantha shared so much that Samantha had taken to sleeping on top of the covers.

* * *

_November 3, 1642_

* * *

Samantha watched as in a dream as the vegetables tumbled out of her Selah’s hands as she lurched forward, her hands on her knees as she wheezed and coughed. Levi was running as soon as Selah had paused in her work, his hoe dropped on the ground- grazing a pumpkin with the sharp end.

“Get her out of her stay,” Samantha yelled as she placed her basket securely down by the other potatoes.

“Why is she wearing her stay?” Levi shouted as he grabbed Selah’s arms and held her firm in his hands. His voice was hoarse as he spoke to Selah. “It’s okay, you can breathe, I promise, you can breathe, Selah.”

Samantha placed a comforting hand on Selah’s shoulders and then hefted up her skirts to reach under them to loosen the strings of her stay.

Selah’s lungs rattled wetly as she sucked in a deep breath, sagging into Levi’s arms. Samantha rubbed her knuckles gently on Selah’s back. “You should go lay down, Selah, you’re tired today.”

Selah cried the entire way back to the house and to her bed.

* * *

Selah lost most of her sight sometime in early spring of 1663. She was irritable and snappish in the months that followed. She complained regularly of the food that she was given- how it was tasteless or too flavorful. She got confused very easily, starting and ending with when Samantha would get up and go to bed. She would sit in a chair by the fire and stare at nothing, stuck in her own head. Levi would worry that she’d burn herself easy as she was having trouble determining what she was touching.

England came to live with them at the end of 1643, and took over as Selah’s nursemaid.

She was gone in early 1644.

Her lands were now Samantha’s.

* * *

_May, 1662_

* * *

“Do you think he knows which ones of us will survive?” Levi asked in the silence during dinner as he pushed the remnants of his food around his plate.

Samantha looked up at him. She knew he was talking about England, but she didn’t know where this was coming from. Aside from the fact that she was in line for a royal charter. And by her having a charter- it would render Levi obsolete.

Levi looked up at her. “Because I do.”

“And?” she said softly. “Who do you think?”

Levi chuckled as he shook his head. “Samantha, you have always been the best of the three of us. The strongest, the one he likes the best. After that stunt I pulled with the judges.” He stood up, taking his plate back to the kitchen. When he returned his hands were empty- though his plate had been no where near clean. “And I never got to meet Victoria or Owen or Taylor or Thomas like you,” he told his hands.

Samantha was speechless and she stood to do...what she didn’t know, but to get Levi’s attention.

He shook his head as she approached him. “I’m going to lay down.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> -The names Levi rattles off at the end are names of other OC's of mine for the other New England colonies  
> -Saybrook Colony was going to be a safe haven for Parliamentary figures during the English Civil War, but that plan never came to fruition, leaving the colony struggling until Fenwick decided to merge with Connecticut Colony  
> -The dream Samantha has of blood spilling is a reference to the Pequot War. Unlike the other two, Samantha was raised by a tribe that ended up being on the English side of the Pequot War, but she lived with the Pequots for a while. If you're every really bored, you might want to read up on the Pequot War and Connecticut- I, a history nerd/buff think it's kind of ironic.  
> According to wikipedia: "the history of the [New Haven] colony was a series of disappointments and failures"  
> -'after that stunt I pulled with the judges'- New Haven Colony along with the Connecticut Colony was in line for a royal charter (gaining one would discredit the other), but during the English Civil War, the colony basically acted as a Haven for the judges that had signed the death warrant of Charles I  
> -The New Haven Colony was eventually (through force from the Connecticut Colony) merged into the Connecticut Colony in 1664
> 
> The title and what Levi feels about pickles/Selah mocked Levi about viewing pickles is a reference to the very silly law in Connecticut about pickles being able to bounce to be called a pickle.  
> In Modern Day Connecticut, there is the city of New Haven and a Saybrook/ Old Saybrook, and those along with the pickle law are the ways (in this world) that Samantha would hold onto her two siblings long after their death.


End file.
